Topics

Mechanics of Materials

The response of materials to load.

Force-deformation relationships.

The key to understanding the physical world

Richard Feynman's Observation

Attempting to distill humankind's knowledge of the physical world
to its barest essence, Nobel laureate Richard Feynman once posed the following
question: If all scientific knowledge were lost in a cataclysm, what single
statement would best preserve the most information to the next generations
of creatures? How could we best pass on our understanding of the world? He
offered the following answer [J. Gleik, Genius, 1993, p. 37]:

All things are made of atoms--little particles that move around
in perpetual motion, attracting each other when they are a little distance
apart, but repelling upon being squeezed into one another.

Neutral

Tension

Compression

A deep, intuitive appreciation for the inherent cussedness of materials
and structures is one of the most valuable accomplishments an engineer can
accomplish.